John Winters is a Massachusetts native who has spent more than a decade as a journalist and still contributes to select publications. His work has appeared in Salon, the Providence Phoenix, Runner's World, Playboy, The Patriot Ledger, Rhode Island
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John Winters is a Massachusetts native who has spent more than a decade as a journalist and still contributes to select publications. His work has appeared in Salon, the Providence Phoenix, Runner's World, Playboy, The Patriot Ledger, Rhode Island Monthly, Art New England, as well as daily papers across southeastern Massachusetts and various websites. His short stories have appeared in literary journals. He is the author of the novel, Murderhouse Blues, and the short story collection, Coulda Been Somebody. John is an adjunct faculty member at Bridgewater State University, where he teaches English.

However, many over the centuries have viewed democracy as nothing short of mob rule. Even Plato, one of the foremost thinkers in history, living amidst the inventors of this form of government, mistrusted it.

H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) had a lot to say about our government and its leaders. Little to none of it was complimentary. The so-called “sage of Baltimore” was a journalist, essayist and satirist of great renown during the 19th century. Mencken believed one of the main problems with democracy was that the boobs were in charge.

Much of what he said and wrote might be of interest to us today, as the wheels of government have ground to a halt. Here are some real gems from Mencken you may find fitting for these times we live in.

-Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.

-In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican.

-The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out... without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable.

-Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.

-The worst government is often the most moral. One composed of cynics is often very tolerant and humane. But when fanatics are on top there is no limit to oppression.

-Each party steals so many articles of faith from the other, and the candidates spend so much time making each other's speeches, that by the time election day is past there is nothing much to do save turn the sitting rascals out and let a new gang in.

-The most costly of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It is the chief occupation of mankind.

-What men value in this world is not rights but privileges.

-There is always an easy solution to every problem - neat, plausible, and wrong.

-Democracy is only a dream: it should be put in the same category as Arcadia, Santa Claus, and Heaven.

-Most people want security in this world, not liberty.

-A politician is an animal which can sit on a fence and yet keep both ears to the ground.

-A good politician is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar.

-No one in this world has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.

-Democracy is also a form of worship. It is the worship of jackals by jackasses.

-The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

-Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.

-Whenever you hear a man speak of his love for his country, it is a sign that he expects to be paid for it.